October 6, 2012 6:39pm EDTOctober 6, 2012 6:15pm EDTFriday talks give way to more of the same, as the NHL and its players' union remain deadlocked and without a collective bargaining agreement.

Staff report

Published on Oct. 6, 2012

Oct. 6, 2012

"Nothing more to report." If anything captures Day 21 of the NHL lockout, it's this snippet from deputy commissioner Bill Daly.

After surprising observers with Friday's get-together in Toronto, the league and its players' union remain stuck without a collective bargaining agreement. Frozen in place since Sept. 15, North America's top professional hockey league continues to find no grounds for turning a standoff into faceoffs.

Although promising to keep in touch this weekend—one can imagine Gary Bettman telling Donald Fehr, "Call me"—there was no movement.

The sides haven't been able to find agreement on how best to split up the $3.3 billion the NHL took in revenues last season. The league is looking for an immediate rollback on salaries while the players are pushing to have all current contracts honored.

With the 2012-13 schedule being sliced away, who knows when things will thaw. There's a feeling the NHL is reliving its 1994-95 shutdown, when more than a third of the season was chucked before the play got under way.

Public relations is the only game in town.

"The game deserves better, the fans deserve better and the people who derive income from their connection to the NHL deserve better," Daly said Friday. "We remain committed to doing everything in our power to forge an agreement that is fair to the players, fair to the teams and good for our fans. ...

"We are committed to getting this done."

And yet, there's nothing more to report.

Friday's meetings gave hope the side could push the puck one way or another. In addition to weekend availability, there was optimism of new meetings next week. That likely would come with the NHL Players' Association offering something new.

Union chief Donald Fehr remains open to the possibility, telling The Canadian Press earlier this week that the union is constantly reviewing its options.

Any proposal "has to be one that is fair to the players and is consistent with what the history is and what the economics are in the industry," Fehr said. "So far, it's been difficult to do this without the response being: 'You haven't moved far enough fast enough.' "

Friday's chats marked the first negotiations since talks broke off Tuesday in New York, where the sides had met four times in five days to discuss issues other than core economics.

At this point, the only certain is that two weeks of the schedule have been wiped out.